The Old Republic: The Untold Story
by AtticHead
Summary: Based sort of off my Old Republic accounts, but focussed on two new characters that link them all together. Sorry if there's some incorrect information on the Star Wars universe, I've tried to research as much as I can to make sure its correct, but I'll probably still make a bunch of mistakes.
1. Chapter 1

**The Old Republic: Untold Stories**

Despite its huge population, you could always find somewhere more or less deserted on Coruscant. An abandoned warehouse with a single docking bay was ignored by hundreds, if not thousands, of individuals night after night.

Which is why it would have been so surprising for the Gizka which made their home in this place to see two figures entering the warehouse in the dead of night (assuming they possessed higher levels of cognitive function. Which they do not). One was a young human, barely in her twenties, and the other was a Zabrak, taller than the girl and heavier built. They were both wearing brown robes and seemed intent on making as little noise as possible as they headed through the warehouse and towards the docking bay, where a lone ship was docked. It was an old, battered ship that looked as if it had been abandoned a while back.

The air was still; the only sound was the faint noise from the city-planet outside the walls of this old building. The pair seemed uneasy; the Zabrak had a clenched jaw, his eyes darting about the room, furiously trying to find something or someone while the girl wrapped her cloak around herself despite the air being quite warm. Both were so focussed on what was ahead that they didn't notice the figure that dropped like a cat from the rafters behind them.

Not until they heard the sound of a lightsaber igniting. Immediately they spun around, their own weapons leaping into their hands from within their Jedi robes, to face a young man – of a similar age to the girl – with white hair, and a black expression. Both sides were absolutely still, as though waiting for the other to make their move. Then the Zabrak spoke:

'In the name of the Galactic Senate,' he intoned with authority, 'You're under arrest, Winters.'

The young man's expression went from angry to wry. 'Nice to see you again too, Master Zar.'

_One week earlier_

The war was over.

It had been years of horror for many in the Galactic Republic; for Kia Loske, it had been a lifetime. Every day she had been alive, new reports came in of death and destruction wrought across the galaxy at the hands of the Sith Empire, on worlds both foreign and familiar to her. Now it was over. And they had lost.

The Jedi Order had relocated to Tython, thanks to the outcry against them on Coruscant. Much as Kia liked it, she missed her home on the Capital city of the Republic. She wouldn't tell anyone; she knew that many of the masters would see it as an attachment she needed to let go of – and in truth, she didn't want to let go of it. That was often the way with her; she had never really been the closest follower of the Jedi Code – which was probably why she was still a Padawan at the age of twenty-two. The Council needed devout Jedi right now, not loose cannons.

Now they needed to see her and her master, Bowden-Zar. Kia would have liked to think it would be about her facing the trials at last, but she had gotten her hopes up too many times over that to expect she'd be that lucky.

She and her master arrived in the council chamber, and presented themselves to the council members.

'Master Zar, we have a task for you and your Padawan,' Grandmaster Satele informed them.

'Master,' Bowden-Zar responded with a respectful bow, 'you know my Padawan and I would normally be happy to perform any task the council sets us, but on this occassion I would ask something of the council, if I may.'

'You may ask.'

'Send another, if you would.' Kia was surprised by this – normally her master was prepared to go along with most things the Council asked, even though she herself was sometimes against it. 'Kia is nearing her twenty-third birthday, and she has been fully capable of taking the trials for many years; in truth, I'm running out of things to teach her.'

Satele Shan gazed at the pair levelly. 'I'm afraid this task requires the both of you – particularly your Padawan. When you return, we may _discuss _your Padawan taking her trials.'

Bowden-Zar didn't seem too pleased with this response, but he buried whatever frustrations he may have had, as a Jedi must. 'Very well. May I inquire as to such a specific task that requires my apprentice?'

'We need you to bring someone in for questioning.'

'That's all?' Kia blurted, very disappointed.

'No. That is not _all_. I'm sure you remember Marik Winters?'

A chill had gone through Kia when the Grandmaster said that name. She most certainly did remember Marik – her closest friend in her teenage years. The two had been almost inseparable. Then he had passed his trials, and been sent on his first solo assignment.

The next they heard from him was a report made by Republic intelligence that had sighted him on Korriban. As a Sith apprentice.


	2. Chapter 2

_Marik Winters_.

Could she have ever forgotten him? It was down to him that she was being denied the opportunity to face the trials. Not because of their friendship, either – she hoped, at least. No, it was his views on the Jedi Order, its code, and the impact these views had on Kia that had made the Council afraid to trust Kia with the responsibility of becoming a Jedi Knight. The Council had been furious at his betrayal, much as they tried to hide it, and they were afraid that Kia could easily go the same way.

Kia found her voice. 'Yes, I remember Marik.'

'Masters,' Zar asked the Council, 'there are many Dark Jedi and Sith in the galaxy that would have just as much information as Winters would; if not more. Why are we only bringing him in? And why are we only doing this now?'

Satele answered again. 'Marik was never officially declared a member of the Sith Empire, and according to our sources, he shows no sign of being associated with them. Any information we gain from him will have just as much validity, but we can always claim that we were simply retaining a long-lost member of our Order, should the Empire hear of this. It's the best way to keep the treaty intact while gaining information.'

Kia's master nodded. 'We shall leave today, master.'

'One more thing,' Master Shan added. 'It would be better if you could bring him in peacefully; if he will not, however, you may bring him in by force.'

'Understood.'

'We will provide you with the information that we have on his location on file, for the two of you to read on your journey. It's not as much as we'd like, but hopefully your Padawan will have some useful information on where he may be hiding.'

'Thank you, master.'

' May the Force be with you.'

'And also with you,' Zar bowed. Kia followed suit, albeit with less conviction. This was not how she'd hoped the meeting to go.

They took a shuttle from Tython to Coruscant, travelling with several other Jedi who had business on the Republic Capital. They spent a lot of the journey in meditation – or, in Kia's case, trying to meditate and failing miserably. She eventually gave up.

Zar came out of his meditation. 'You are troubled, Kia?'

'No, master.' She replied, unconvincing even in her own ears.

'What's wrong?'

Kia shrugged. 'Nothing important, master. You shouldn't bother yourself with it or anything, I'll be fine.'

'Kia, you are my responsibility until such a time as the Council realises you are more than ready to become a Jedi Knight. Your troubles are my own, and they are all the more troubling when I don't even know what they are.'

'Well...' Kia would be lying if she said she had no desire to share how she felt with someone. 'Marik was my closest friend, and him joining the Sith was an even bigger shock for me than it was for the Council. I thought I was over being concerned about it, but really, I'm not. I've just tried to avoid thinking about him, but now that we have this new assignment, I'm obsessing over him all over again.'

Zar frowned. 'You are more confused than angry over your friend's betrayal? Not that that's a bad thing, but I wonder – Kia, do you believe that, when we go to arrest him, Marik might hurt you to retain his freedom?'

Kia shook her head. 'No, master.'

Zar sighed. 'It is a confusing series of events, I will give you that much. Now, let's try to make some sense of it. Just before he left, you didn't notice him behaving any differently, did you?'

'Not really. I mean, he got into more contact with his family, but I don't think that had anything to do with him leaving the Order.'

'Why not?'

'Because... well, his father had died earlier that month. He wanted to make sure they were alright. Then his brother, Tristan, started his training as a Jedi, leaving his mother to look after the youngest child, Duke, who was having a final operation. I think he was just concerned for them.'

'What operation?'

'Cybernetic implants, master. Duke was caught up in the Mandalorian raid on our village; he was badly injured, and it took several years' worth of treatments for his body to start functioning like normal again. His family couldn't afford to get them all done at once, so they had to get the life-preserving ones first and then, year after year, pay for a new operation to replace damaged body parts.'

Zar nodded. 'And did Marik mention his... you know?

'Brother and sister? Master, it's been over ten years, you don't need to tiptoe around the subject any more.'

'Well? Did he?'

'No. But he always hated the ones that took them away – and he was convinced, shortly after it happened, that all of it – the raid, the injuries caused to his brother, the loss of his siblings – was all orchestrated by the Sith. That's why I find it hard to understand him joining their order, master. He hated them more than anyone I've ever met.'

Her master shook his head. 'Kia, it is such thoughts that brought about the Sith in the first place. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that his hate lost its focus, as a fall to the dark side is wont to cause, and he joined out of a need to take action. Who knows? But that is part of why we must find him – to learn the truth.'

For all his words, Kia could tell her master had no real understanding of the matter. For sure, he was a wise Jedi with a deep understanding of the force, but he was not the best at understanding people. Kia was certain Marik couldn't have joined the Sith, because she understood how he felt over what happened – how he must still feel – because what she hadn't pointed out, was that her own brother and cousin had been lost to the Mandalorians on that same day.


	3. Chapter 3

Kia's mind went back to that day, nearly ten years ago, when she had been sent to see Satele Shan – back before she had become Grandmaster. Although, officially, Jedi were supposed to cut ties with family after joining the Order, they would be given important information anyway. Since the war had begun, many had renewed contact with their families out of concern, so the Council had decided it would be easier to provide them all with any important news themselves. Sadly, important news came through for many Jedi since the war had begun.

Now it was Kia's turn. She wasn't the only one, either – Marik Winters, a young Padawan a year older than her, whose family had apparently lived close to hers back on Alderaan, was also sat in the chamber waiting for the master to deliver the news. When Kia arrived, Master Satele explained what she knew:

A Mandalorian raid on the village where the two had grown up had wiped out almost half the town. Over a hundred were dead or missing, not to mention over half that number were injured. Among the missing – Kia's brother, Dillon, and her cousin, Trey, and Marik's brother and sister, Arran and Elle. The four had been playing out by the river with another of Marik's brothers, Duke, who had been found by Marik's father, next a smouldering crater, badly burned and barely alive. Marik's father had gone to find the children, along with Kia's father when the raid hit. Seven members of their family had gone out of the village that day; two returned. Kia's father had been killed trying to find his son and his nephew.

Kia had to bite her lip to stop herself from bursting into tears in front of the Jedi Master, but her eyes still formed them, as she brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them in shock, as though to contain her grief. Marik, on the other hand, gripped both arms of the chair he was sat in, his knuckles going as white as his hair. Master Shan left the two with their grief for some time, presumably to give them space to recover a little.

Kia sat in the same spot for some time, still curled up, silently sobbing to herself and wishing that this was all some horrible nightmare. It couldn't have happened – her brother, cousin and father all gone, just like that? It felt so unfair, so hard and brutal, and so crippling – there was no way what she was feeling was a dream. Her gut was clenched; her heart felt like ice that was slowly creeping out further in her chest and her eyes were stinging and her head was hurting from crying for – well, she couldn't say how long.

Marik had moved to sit on the window sill, facing away from her. She hadn't really spoken to him up to that point; even though they came from the same place and were the same age, Kia had always been a little afraid of him. He was fairly good-looking, with completely white, ruffled hair that was a trait he shared with one of his brothers, Tristan, and had shared with his sister Elle. He was also considered by some to be dangerous. Her first conversation with him showed her why.

Kia had gotten over the very first wave of grief, and was more aware of her surroundings. Her eyes red but emptied of tears, she uncurled herself and stood, walking over to where Marik was sat, completely still, staring out into Coruscant. She didn't say anything for a while, a little afraid even now. Then she noticed his hand move to his face, and wipe something away – then it hit her. _He_ _didn't want her to see him cry_. That realisation suddenly made him that much less scary in her eyes.

'I'm so sorry, Marik,' Kia told him, sadly.

Marik let out a short, bitter laugh that sounded half like a sob. 'You're very kind.' She wasn't sure if he was mocking her or not. 'Jedi don't usually bother with that. You're more likely to hear a pile of crappy "wisdom" that means nothing except "I don't have the first clue how you feel, but I'm going to pretend to know how to make it go away".'

'That's them, though. They say the code tells us not to grow attached to people so we don't have to feel... like this.'

'Then they're as bad as the Sith.'

Kia had been horrified by what he said – so much so, that she couldn't respond. Not that she needed to – Marik had sensed her fear. 'Not feeling anything like that? It's way too cold, like freezing to death is opposite to being burnt alive – they're as bad as each other, they just go about it in different ways.'

Kia had no idea how to reply to that – it made so much sense, and she was almost drawn to it. She was very emotional at that point; the idea of letting it out instead of bottling it up being the right thing to do was a very appealing idea. 'Have you ever told anyone about this?'

'I pointed it out to my master, but he said... You know, I don't actually remember. But I do remember the answer wasn't a very good one. I've learned that the masters don't like that sort of talk, they wouldn't like me questioning their authority when I'm not even a proper Jedi yet, so I have to keep it to myself.'

'You could talk to me about it,' Kia said, curious as to the strange theories her new friend might have come up with.

'You'd want to listen to a load of weird ideas that go against what you're being trained to become, from a guy you hardly know?'

Kia gave one of those laughs that comes shortly after one has been crying, usually when someone says something funny in an attempt to cheer one up, a sort of half laugh half sob sort of thing. 'Why can't we just get to know each other first, then?' She held out one hand. 'I'm Kia Loske, nice to meet you.'

Her new friend gave her a curious look, as though he wasn't sure whether to take her seriously. A little suspiciously, he took her hand and shook it. 'Marik Winters.' He gave a half smile and added, 'I think we were neighbours, once.'

Kia hadn't realised how much an impact that simple handshake would have on her life.


	4. Chapter 4

After their conversation following the news about the Mandalorian raid, Kia and Marik began to spend a lot of time outside their training talking, studying and (at least in the early years) playing together, and during these times – at least when other Jedi were out of earshot – Marik would rant about the Mandalorians that attacked their home, the Jedi Council for their views on how one should handle such loss, and later on their views about a number of other subjects. While at first, Kia was somewhat shocked by his views, she slowly began to realise that she actually agreed with quite a few of them, particularly ones that involved creative ways to punish the Mandalorians that took away so much of their family away from them – although it went against everything she was being taught by her new master, Bowden-Zar, who was trying to teach her to forgive her enemies and to let go of her anger.

Marik never really had this problem with his master, an old Miraluka named Kolim, but that wasn't because his master was more accepting of such attitudes than Zar – if anything, he was militantly against them – rather, Marik was very good at hiding his emotions when he was with the masters. This was probably what drew him to Kia; he was able to let it all out without fear of being judged or lectured, because she felt much the same way as he did. It was a while before she asked him how he was able to do it, and he promptly explained it to her.

'You need to keep your focus on other things when you're around them, for a start,' he told her, 'that's the easy bit, and that's mostly all it takes. When they bring it up – well, you know how it feels like your insides are about to explode? I just imagine I'm squashing it, pushing it down so that it can't come up again, and I keep at it until that feeling goes away. It doesn't make being angry go away, but it helps to stop them catching on. What they sense is something similar to what other Jedi do when they feel something strongly, except instead of meditating it away, I just beat it down.'

It took her a few weeks, but she got the technique eventually.

This was just one of the ways Marik had become like a teacher to her. As they spent time together studying, Marik found many examples of older Jedi who backed up his theories – not that they were easy to find, as the archivists were none too keen to admit their views were associated with the Jedi Order. He used them to slowly bring Kia to the point where she began to see things his way. Some eighteen months after they received the news of the raid, Marik came across a record nearly three hundred years old that got him very excited.

'Been looking for this a while now,' he murmured, his voice recently broken and sometimes switching between his boyish sounding voice and the more gravelly tones that come with age. 'Jedi Master Revan, war hero and blah blah blah... here we go! It says that his marriage to Bastilla Shan was vehemently opposed by the Council, but was permitted when he agreed to stop spreading his views on the Force, considered almost blasphemous – blasphemous? No one uses that word in these things; this archivist must have been a bit of a nut job – and a threat to the stability of the Order. But they've had to record these views anyway, and then hidden them as well as they can so we can't get any ideas... like I thought!'

Kia was getting impatient; Marik had a habit of talking more to himself than to her when he went through the archives, so she had to speak up in order to avoid missing out on any key information. 'What _is _it, Marik?'

'Well, Revan served both the Light and the Dark Sides of the Force at different times, right? So he'd have had a better understanding of it than most, wouldn't he? Well, apparently he reckoned that the Light and Dark Side were very closely linked, closer than both sides ever thought, and that it was possible for someone to take energy from both sides, without falling prey to either one. There's also talk about how emotions – positive emotions like joy and love and that – can be used in the same way the Sith use anger and jealousy and those things, to strengthen your connection to the force, and that it's not harmful or draws you away from the Light, but strengthens your connection to it. He even sites an example of how his own wife, Bastilla, was redeemed from the Dark Side by the power of his love – OK, that's kind of gross.' He pulled a face at that. Thirteen and all.

'I think it's sweet,' Kia commented, and laughed when he threw her a disgusted look.

They continued to develop the theory themselves, as the archives told how Revan had disappeared without ever elaborating on his theories further. Their training continued as well, and both were found to be very promising students by their masters and expected to become fully fledged Jedi Knights before they turned twenty, as both their respective masters taught them well and gave them glowing reports to the Council. It was almost tragic, Kia would later reflect, that Kolim was so fond and proud of his student, while Marik considered his teacher a senile fool, albeit a kind-hearted one, so stuck in his ways that he was unable to see any benefits in alternative viewpoints on the Force, such as the one Revan had pioneered. Sadly, the more Marik studied Revan's exploits, the more he built up an idealistic picture of the man in his mind which was turning into hero-worship, and left him wishing that his master could have been more like the icon he had built up in his mind.

'Just look at this,' he was saying to her while they were in the archives again, in one of their extra study sessions – they had many of these, particularly with Marik feeling he wasn't as far forward as he should have been with Kolim's teaching – which occurred straight after they'd had a sparring practice with the other apprentices, 'Revan was such a young Jedi when he began making a mark on the world, and that began in the middle of war just like the one we're in the middle of! That could be us in a few years, you know?'

Kia, not in a very good mood thanks to exhaustion from some fairly intense sparring with the young man sat next to her, replied, 'That was a different war, and they were winning against a force that was much more manageable than the one we're facing now. We're all going to do our part to end this war, and it can't be about getting glory for ourselves – that's how a Mandalorian would think, and I can't believe that you, you of all people would want to think like them.'

Her words seemed to hit him like a blow, and she immediately realised what she had said. 'Marik, I didn't mean – no, no not like that I know you'd never –'

'I don't want to talk about this anymore, Kia,' he replied distantly, getting up and leaving her sat there, feeling pretty horrible.

It turned out he actually meant that he never wanted to talk about it ever again. All talk about war glory, Revan's achievements and his theories – it all stopped after that short confrontation that only came about because Kia was a bit irritable. Not that she didn't appreciate the quiet, but she was a little worried that Marik was still harbouring these thoughts and one day they'd just spill out, with harmful results. They were fourteen at the time, and that was the last she heard about it.

His theories about the Force, how emotions were key to it and all that, however, didn't disappear. He still spoke to Kia about it, and as they grew older they both began to develop the concept, adding to it and revising it as necessary.

'If we weren't to feel emotions, we wouldn't be much more than droids, would we?' Kia pointed out in the middle of a sparring session – not the best place to be discussing philosophies, but for all her level-headedness in most situations Kia was known to get inspiration at the most inconvenient moments and blurt out the idea in the middle of it – and Marik, who was mercifully the one she was sparring with, began to slow his attack, giving her space to explain herself. 'Droids can't feel the Force; but idea of repressing emotions is like trying to become a droid, isn't it? And why would the Force want us to become more like something that's dead to it?'

Marik grinned, and went on the defensive as Kia began to press her own attack. 'At the same time, the Sith are even worse – listening to emotions like anger and hate all the time, makes you deaf to the Force; that can't be what it wants at all.'

'So there's probably a middle ground between the two groups, which is probably the ideal place to be at?'

Marik shrugged. 'The Force is a massive energy field binding us all together; I'm not going to pretend to understand the thing. But if I had to take a wild stab in the dark, it'd be something like that.'

Kia and Marik had spent a lot of time together doing this extra research on alternative Force theories, but they did help each other out with their Jedi training. It was a little unfair on the other apprentices, as the two brightest students were primarily helping each other out meaning they were excelling even faster and making the others look bad (which they weren't). A prime example of this was when the time came for them to construct their own lightsabers; though they had to collect and assemble the thing themselves, which Kia and Marik did, they also gave each other pointers in how best to proceed. They finished a fortnight before the other students who had begun at the same time as them, and their respective lightsabers shared a few traits – in the same way a Padawan's lightsaber might share some similarities with their master's. Out of respect, Kia's design incorporated some of her master's lightsaber hilt, the rigid handgrip and thin portion of the hilt separating it from the emitter, while the lower half was much more similar to Marik's, a solid casing, cylindrical with the power cell reserve cap attached taking up about a sixth of the blade's length on one side. Marik's hilt's upper half resembled his master's, though he seemed to do it more out of a sense of pity than respect, Kia thought sadly. It was a solid cylindrical casing with a rigid handgrip that was less skeletal than Kia's, and was a little plainer in its design. As if to offset this, half of the components added into the hilt were black, the other half silver.

It had been a very good time in Kia's life, once she had learnt to deal with her grief. Or it had been, until Marik decided that he was ready to face the truth about what happened with the Mandalorian raid, shortly after they turned sixteen.

By 'face the truth', we mean 'investigate deeper into this than was necessarily good for him'. And of course, Kia was automatically involved in uncovering the truth alongside him, as they investigated the event that turned her life upside down.


	5. Chapter 5

Marik had first gone to ask Master Satele about the raid, and what she knew of it; naturally, after three years of him never bringing it up, she was suspicious as to why he would want to know now. 'What do you think I might have kept from you, Marik? I told you everything that I know about the raid; everything I read in the reports, heard from your families – all of it.'

'I want to know details,' Marik pressed her, 'it doesn't add up, and I want to make sense of the whole thing.'

The master sighed. 'I'm going to regret asking, but what exactly doesn't add up about the raid?'

'Why it happened, for a start. They'd just been broken at the Hydian Way by the Republic, and Alderaan is the most Republic-y world out there, aside from this one; thing is, I've been studying Mandalorian culture – they don't go after revenge, the way a lot of peoples might. Why would they attack a world that is so heavily guarded, and then attack for a community that is mostly undefended? It couldn't be glory, and they don't want revenge, and there are much easier pickings in the Outer Rim, if they were looking for an easy target.'

Kia had talked this over with Marik already, and they had agreed it made little sense – naturally, Marik was the one doing the talking, but what he was saying was half Kia's thoughts as well. She was just as curious as he was.

Satele gave them both a grave look. 'This is not something the two of you should go digging around in. If you cannot let go of what happened, and accept that it was beyond your control to prevent, and is beyond your control to change, then you will find no peace no matter how much you investigate.'

'But, Master,' Kia interjected, 'don't the Jedi believe that peace comes through enlightenment? How are we supposed to reach peace if we aren't given the truth?'

Marik gave her a congratulatory smile when Satele turned to Kia. 'We don't have any conclusive proof that can lead us to what you call the 'truth'.' Pausing for a moment, she eventually conceded, 'Still, you have a point; I will tell you what we believe happened with the Mandalorians. We have reason to suspect that they did not attack the Republic of their own accord, even though reports say they were led by a Madalore who is meant to be the only one making the decisions for his or her people. We believe that this Mandalore was being controlled by the Sith Empire, and that his followers attacked the Republic because it benefitted the cause of the Sith. It is entirely possible that the Empire didn't relinquish all control over the Mandalorians after the Hydian Way blockade was broken, although what their overall plan was with the attack, we can't be certain.'

Turns out, their 'investigation' didn't take as long as Kia had thought it would. Marik dropped the subject shortly after that – after this, although he maintained his underlying rebellious position against the Order, he focussed on his studies, and the two of them went from strength to strength in the eyes of both their own masters, and the Council.

In terms of lightsaber combat, there was none their age that could beat them. Marik had grown highly proficient in his use of Form V, both Shien and Djem So, and he would switch between the two as the situation required. Kia had, for her part, focussed on the use of Form IV, Ataru, and was just as skilled in its use as Marik was in his respective forms.

As far as their link to the Force went, they were not as adept in their use of the Light Side of the Force as their respective masters; however, they would practice their theory that they could draw on their less harmful emotions to increase their connection to the Force and, by doing so, augmented their power – all in secret, of course.

They were seventeen when they were sent to the front lines, alongside their masters in the battle of Rhem Var, where the two and their masters served under Master Satele Shan. The whole way there, the two had been both anxious and a little excited by the prospect of finally confronting the Sith, expecting to return with heroic tales of their exploits, maybe a couple of minor injuries to claim as war wounds. Not the best attitudes to have, but they were young and getting a little erratic thanks to the adrenaline rushes they were getting. The point is, what they expected was an easy battle, something akin to the scraps they'd get into on their usual assignments from the Council but on a slightly bigger scale, in which they'd invariably come out on top – particularly with Master Satele, who had been fighting in the war since it had begun being there to lead them.

What they instead got was Hell.

They were moving with the main bulk of their forces, moving to drive the invading Imperials off the frozen planet, engaging the enemy regularly, battling against Sith soldiers, droids and Lords at varying points over the conflict. The skirmishes were horrific, as Kia and Marik found to their shock. Not only were they hacking through other sentient beings on a daily basis, they were watching their own forces – people they had spoken to while there, seen around the base camps and all – being cut down as easily as they themselves were cutting down the enemy. Their masters were fighting alongside them, and would offer as much support as they could in the aftermath, but each time Kia and Marik would return to their bunks, and just sit in shock at what had occurred. Though they were able to rouse themselves each morning, knowing that it would likely result in more of the same, it became harder and harder each time.

It was on the day that they found the entirety of the Forty-Fifth Battalion lying in the snow-covered forests of Rhem Var, dead or incapacitated, thanks to the Empire's use of weaponised gas that it became too much for Kia. She sat in the snow, feeling like she was about to throw up, numb to the outside world. Her master noticed this, and knelt beside her.

'Kia,' he said softly, 'I know this is difficult, and I'm so sorry that you're being put through all this, really I am, but you cannot let this fear overtake you. You have to fight these feelings, Kia, we all must, or the Empire will destroy everything the Order stands for!' He heard the sound of someone clearing their throat, and turning, found Master Satele Shan stood over the two of them.

'May I?' She inquired. When he moved out of the way, she knelt by Kia as he had done, removing the insulated gloves she wore and placing her hand on Kia's temple, brushing past her hood and her hair, trying to call on the Force to calm Kia. 'It's not easy, the life of a soldier; particularly as Jedi, who are taught to preserve life. But what we do is done so that these horrors never reach those back home, to protect the people here and to stop these horrors they are witnessing everyday! I can't have soldiers falling apart over this, Padawan Kia, and if I must make an example of you to protect those we fight for, I will.'

'Excuse me, Master Shan,' Marik was stood behind her, 'Not that I'd _ever _question your judgement when it comes to punishments, but would you mind if I had a word with the convicted before you pass judgement?'

'Very well,' the Master replied, none too pleased with the young man's tone, but unwilling to chase him up on it.

Kia's best friend sat by her, as Satele left them to it. 'Look, Kia, I get what you're feeling. We all do. But you need to understand – you bail on this battle, you'll think you can get away with doing it in the next, and the next, and you'll be of no use to anyone in this war, something you don't get to do. I think I remember you telling me something about us all having our part to play in this war? Well, that applies to you just as much as it does to me; you've got your bit you need to do, and you can't let this fear stop you from doing it, just like I can't let any desire for glory and stuff get in the way of what I have to do.'

Kia looked at him for a moment. Then she smiled wanly, and said, 'Since when have you cared what I say?'

Marik gave let out an indignant gasp. 'I always listen to what you say!' She raised an eyebrow, and he added sulkily, 'Might ignore it most of the time. But I still listen!'

She laughed weakly, and he grinned ruefully at her, helping her to her feet. 'Thanks,' she said.

He shrugged. 'You'd have done the same for me; not a big deal.' Out of impulse, she hugged him tightly. He tensed for a brief moment, then eased up, holding her close to him. 'I owe you a lot, you know?' he murmured. 'It's not like I have a long line of other potential best friends prepared to put up with me. You're the only one I've got; I'd kind of like to keep you from getting court-marshalled.'

When they returned to the camp, they found Marik's master, Kolim, awaiting them. 'Good to hear you're doing better, miss Loske,' he said politely, nodding in her direction. 'I hope my Padawan didn't give you too much grief in his lecturing? You know how strict he can get in these situations.'

Kia stifled a laugh. 'I'm sorry, I don't know how strict he can get in these situations, master.'

Marik rolled his eyes, as Kolim nodded sagely. 'Well... No, neither do I. It's a bit of a first for me, taking him into a warzone; can never tell how students will respond. I wouldn't worry too much about what happened, it's very normal to be shocked in these things – they're none too pleasant, I'm afraid, and they won't be getting any better. Still, you'll get more used to it; there shouldn't be any court-marshallings for you anytime soon, I'm certain. Once you get passed the initial shock, the worry gets easier to manage, you see, and it shouldn't cause you too many problems from here on in.'

Kia smile at the old master. He was very nice, if a bit long-winded on occasion, and she did think Marik could be a little harsh in his opinions on the competence of the old Jedi. Still, she had Marik to thank for pulling her out of the shocked state she had been in, so she wasn't about to get into a fight with him about it anytime soon.

Neither of them was aware that they were one battle away from the end of this particular conflict, so it shows a fair amount of character that the two, despite their youth and feelings of horror at the brutality they had witnessed, were prepared to go through it to the bitter end, no matter how far away it may be. Fortunately, it was only one major encounter away. Unfortunately for them, it was a whole major encounter away.

This time the two went into battle alongside their masters, clearing the way through to the leader of the Imperial forces, Darth Mekhis, who was residing in a fortress which they planned to lay siege to in order to win back Rhem Var. The fighting was intense; Kia found herself battling a number of Sith Apprentices one on one, soldiers, and droids, and it was only her extensive training and honed reflexes kept her alive. Zar fought beside her, and as they battled through the enemy forces shoulder to shoulder – well, each saved the other's life a half-dozen times over that day. Their forces were pushing forwards, toward the fortress, when one of the generals – a huge, imposing Sith Lord – began to battle Marik's master Kolim. An old but powerful Jedi in his own right, even Kolim seemed to be struggling beneath the attacks of this brutish warrior, Marik, Kia and Zar all being too far from the two to help in any way, and engaged in their own struggles as it was. They watched, helpless as the Sith Lord beat away at Kolim's defences, eyes wide with an evil glee as he struck again and again at the ancient Miraluka, who relied entirely on the Force to see – and was unable to see anything but darkness pummelling him over and over. The outcome was almost inevitable.

Batting away his older foe's lightsaber, the huge Sith Lord plunged his lightsaber through Kolim's mid-section, and the Jedi Master crumpled to the ground, clutching the hole in his stomach. The entire battle seemed to slow, as Zar and Kia watched in horror as the old master fell.

Then a wave of Force energy blasted away soldiers, droids and apprentices, as Marik leapt forward to avenge his master, this new desire providing him with energy and fury he didn't realise he possessed – nor one that Kia and Zar realised he possessed. Flying at the huge Sith Lord, Marik unleashed a flurry of blows on his new enemy, and the Sith was pressed back away from the prone form of his latest victim, and continued to back away into the bulk of the Sith forces.

Kia and Zar spotted this, and pressed forward harder than ever, trying to move their line further forward to ensure Marik wouldn't be overwhelmed by superior numbers. Fortunately, Marik wasn't entirely stupid. Realising he had to move the battle closer to the middle of the field, he went on the defensive for a while, feigning exhaustion and backing up as the Sith took advantage and pressed his own brutal attack, hacking away at Marik's defence and pushing the fight back to the middle. The young man soon switched it back around, going on the offensive yet again and pushing the Sith back – but this time, the Sith was prepared. He barked out an order for all his soldiers to fire at Marik, in order to provide a short distraction that would allow him to break through the Jedi Padawan's defence.

Once again, Marik wasn't fooled. Switching tactics, he leapt back, kicking the Sith in the face for good measure as he did so, and switched to Shien Form, deflecting the blaster fire from the opposing troops effortlessly. His lightsaber was a blur; even when the Sith resumed his attack, nothing hit him, he was moving so fast. Kia was amazed – seeing her friend switch between the two forms so seamlessly as he switched between combating the Sith and deflecting the fire of the Imperial soldiers was the first time she really saw Marik's true potential as a Jedi. Almost inspired by the sight, she and her master pressed their attack harder yet, the soldiers and Jedi behind them similarly amazed followed them with a roar, and were soon able to keep the opposing soldiers' attentions away from Marik's fight and onto theirs. Kia, who was about to jump into the fray and fight the Sith Lord alongside her friend, noticed Kolim's form moving slightly.

'Master!' She called to Zar, and the two picked the old master up. He was still alive; barely.

'If we can get him behind the line, it's possible he might be saved,' Zar told her.

Kia looked back at the battle in desperation; on the one hand, she had no desire to leave her friend. On the other hand, she knew just how fond Marik was of Kolim, much as he might have said otherwise, and that he would never forgive her if she let him die. Nor could she, for that matter. Zar picked up the old Miraluka and carried him down through the battle, with Kia protecting the two on their way, deflecting fire and blasting back anyone in enemy uniform that came too close.

They came to the medics, and Zar placed the old master down on a stretcher. The medics said they could keep him alive, possibly long enough to get him back to the med bays where he could be properly patched up – but they didn't have the manpower to protect a stretcher unit returning to the camp and the med bays.

Zar glanced at Kia, and sighed. 'Kia, I'll go with them. You go and help Marik, and I will see you when the battle is won.'

Kia nodded, and returned to the battle, making her way through the Republic lines to the meeting point between the two forces – at the centre of which, Marik was still battling the huge Sith Lord. However, it was clear that Marik now had the upper hand in the conflict – there were gashes on the Sith#s armour, and his ferocity was not what it had been. Marik, meanwhile, was still going strong, flipping over and around his opponent every once in a while to try and throw him off balance, adding a new gash to the armour each time. Kia was about to help him, when the Sith launched a final, desperate attack, lunging at Marik and bringing his lightsaber overhead to slice Marik down the middle – but when the blade came down, Marik was no longer there.

Marik was behind the Sith, having sped past him and slashing him across the chest. His armour couldn't take the direct blow; he clutched at his heart in shock, fell on his knees, then fell forward into the snow. Dead.

The enemy was in full retreat within the next half hour.


	6. Chapter 6

Both Kia and Marik were part of the siege of Mekhis' stronghold, the four masters in charge of the assault having led them and begun coordinating the attack. It had been going so well, Kia remembered – or at least, it had been going so well compared to everything that had come before. With Zar and Kolim both gone, Kia and Marik spent most of their time fighting alongside each other; however, following his defeat of the unnamed Sith Lord, Marik had drawn to him a group of soldiers and even a few Jedi, who had seen his victory or heard of it, and saw him as an unofficial leader of sorts. Kia wasn't entirely sure why, but she supposed if it helped their morale to fight with someone they believed to be the next big war-hero, who was she to argue? Plus she found that she quite liked many of them, as did Marik. There were three in particular they got on with – a bulky lieutenant, by the name Leogaridan (understandably he asked them to call him Leo) who was a few years older than them, but was very friendly and professional (not to mention he was very good at keeping Marik's new 'fans' in line, something Marik had no idea how to do). The second was Mack, a wiry sergeant who was closer to their age, very easy going and likable (almost too much so, given the situation), and managed to provide some much-needed levity in between the conflicts. The third was a young Padawan who was also their age, named Serena, a very sweet girl who had no place being in a warzone, in Kia's mind – an able fighter, there was no doubt, but the effects of so much fighting with hardly a half hour break over the course of those days was clearly taking its toll on her more than the rest.

Kia remembered the sick feeling she had after finding the gassed troops a few days before. Serena had it even worse. Her eyes would go blank after each encounter for a good five minutes, she had been physically ill a number of times, and had almost collapsed from the horrors she had seen. It wasn't unusual to react this way, but the fact that she insisted on continuing after each fight was causing both Marik and Kia some alarm.

'Some people aren't meant to fight like this,' Marik had told her reasonably, just before the final battle, 'Jedi in particular, considering all we get taught about preserving life and all that, it's conflicting with everything you have to do in war.'

Serena shrugged. 'I need to help somehow, Marik. The war is hurting people; the Sith are hurting people and they'll only keep hurting them unless somebody stops them. This seems like as good a way for me to help with that as any, so why shouldn't I?'

'Aside from the throwing up, zoning out and fainting?'

'I _nearly _fainted. It's not the same.'

'You should be sent home, Serena. Staying here and trying to force yourself into becoming a soldier won't win the war for us; you should stay back home and help in ways your more suited at.'

Serena sighed. 'You think I'm not good enough?' She asked him dejectedly.

'Not in the least,' he told her firmly. 'I think you're too good for this war. You should help the people who have been hurt already, rebuilding what's been torn down – that's what you'd be best at.'

She looked him in the eye. 'I'll promise to do that, then, if you promise to let me join you in the next assault. _Then _I'll go home and do as you asked.'

He smiled at her. 'Sounds like a fair deal.'

Kia had expected Marik to be fairly hostile to these new friends of his; on the contrary, however, he seemed to actually enjoy their company, and was very conscientious of their presence on the battlefield, trying to help them out as much as he was able. For her part, Kia liked having them around as well; it meant she didn't have to worry about Marik so much and vice versa. She wished she had realised how much she enjoyed having a larger group of friends earlier in her life – how much better would her time with Marik have been if there had been ten or fifteen of them, instead of just the two?

There wasn't as much time for these thoughts, however. The siege was nearing completion; Master Satele had breached the fortress and both Marik and Kia, along with the dozen or so followers he had acquired were on her trail, ready to provide any help necessary.

At first, though, it looked like there was no help needed. Satele had made her way through the fortress with little to no difficulty, cutting through the defences on her way to the Sith Lord. As they followed her through, intent on aiding her in any way possible, the alarm sounded, and soldiers, defence droids, Sith warriors and more were swarming the courtyard.

The soldiers with them dived for cover, while the Jedi stayed low and tried deflecting as many bolts as they could. They backed up against a far wall as the enemy forces advanced on them, Leo shouting orders to both soldier and Jedi alike. Kia felt a hand grab her shoulder and pull her down. Marik had both her and Leo on the ground, and shouted above the noise of the battle.

'The only way we can win is if Master Satele can defeat the Sith Lord in charge of this whole thing; I need to get through this lot and help her in any way I can – and I need your help to cover me and keep them busy!'

Leo nodded grimly, and Kia followed suit. 'We can charge through them with you; you follow Master Satele, and we'll make our way towards the breach. Hopefully most of them will follow us, and we'll get reinforcements through soon!' Leo replied. Kia noticed Marik catch Serena's arm and say something in her ear, but she couldn't make it out over the sound of battle – besides which, she had more important things to worry about – but whatever he said, Serena was nodding and patting his hand reassuringly.

Leo began to address them. 'We've been caught off guard here; I won't lie, chances of us making it through this are slim to non-existent. We've come up with a plan – a long shot, but it may be the only way for us to win this thing, so pay attention: On my call, we charge through the bastards and make our way to the breach and keep it clear for the reinforcements,' Leo commanded, 'Marik's splitting off and we need to make sure as few of them follow him, so make as much noise as possible – but don't be doing any dramatic sacrifices trying to get him through; we'll need as many soldiers protecting the breach. Jedi out front, block as much incoming fire as you can; men, keep them focussed on saving their own skins instead of coming after ours.' They nodded, and Leo stood and shouted: 'For the Republic!'

The charge was terrifying, but in a way it was exhilarating. They were outnumbered – ten-to-one at least, possibly more – and they still leapt out from cover, the four or five young Jedi out front defending the soldiers from enemy blaster fire, and the soldiers hurling grenades and firing missiles, causing widespread chaos among the enemy – for a short time. They reached the enemy lines and threw themselves into it.

Thanks to the regroup on the enemy's part, about half their number was cut down before they made it to the far wall (at least, that was Kia's estimation), but Marik managed to break away from the group about halfway through their heroic charge. The Imperial regroup had really thrown the plan a little off, and they were separated or killed; so, they had to try and make it through to the breach alone or in pairs. Kia wasn't quite sure what happened then. She assumed Marik made it through and tried to follow Satele; she did remember meeting Leo, Mack and a couple of the soldiers by the breach. Serena and the few that remained had resurfaced, and were pinned down further along the wall.

'Get over here, _now_!' Leo shouted down his communicator to them, simultaneously fighting off the surrounding Imperials and issue commands. One of the other soldiers was run through by a Sith warrior; Kia managed to get his attention and caught his blade on her own, flicking it off as her attention was diverted by enemy fire. She found herself fighting desperately for her life, mimicking Marik's trick of alternating between protecting herself from blaster fire and combating the Sith Warrior. Leo's armour was taking a pounding every time he came out of cover to fire on the soldiers; Mack was lying behind cover hunched over in pain; from what, Kia couldn't see. She caught the Sith's hand with the force briefly as he brought his lightsaber down on her head, throwing him off balance and allowing her to run him through, as the final soldier standing with Leo succumbed to the enemy fire. Serena's group had disappeared.

'Where is everyone?' Leo snarled. 'We were supposed to be the first team in, the rest were meant to follow –'

It was only then that they noticed the screams coming from outside the fortress – long, drawn out, bloodcurdling screams at that. Kia and Leo kept fighting, protecting the injured Mack as best they could, hoping against hope that those screams didn't mean – well, they refused to think about it. Kia was hurling back soldiers with the force, hacking at any who came too near and protecting herself from fire, while Leo fired just about everything in his arsenal – grenades, missiles, anything that went 'boom', basically – until they began to get in close, and it became harder to fight with such things at close range. Mack shouted, above the noise:

'Get out, you pair of thickheads! Run for it!'

'Like hell we will,' Leo snapped at him, dropping his rifle and drawing his vibrosword, 'No idea what's happening out there and I want to die facing my enemy!'

'By all means sir, but die another day!' Mack gasped. He fell into unconsciousness from the unseen injury.

They ignored him, of course. Kia had managed to kill the Sith warrior, but more Imperials stepped up to replace him, but there was no way she'd go down without fighting –

An explosion directly in front of them ended that train of thought.

Kia was temporarily blinded, deafened and crippled by that explosion. She was struggling to breathe; her entire body was in pain; she had no clue where her friends were, or if they even still lived. Her hearing came back slowly, to a familiar voice calling her name.

'Kia? Kia! Wake up, child, please wake up – what happened to her?'

She felt a pair of strong arms lift her up, and carry her... Well, she couldn't see where.

The next thing she knew, she was lying in one of the beds in a Republic medical tent. She raised herself onto her elbows, her body still aching, but otherwise OK. She could see and hear again, at the very least. She noticed two others on the beds in the same tent – Mack and Leo, both unconscious, but judging by the rising and falling of their chests beneath their blankets, still alive.

Kia decided it was time to find out what exactly had happened while she was unconscious, swivelling on the bed and getting to her feet, she found she was a little unsteady, but she could walk. She put on the robes that had been laid by her bed, and left the tent.

She was in Darth Mekhis' fortress. That had her concerned for a moment, when she noticed the Republic medics moving bodies from the yard. _They had won_. But what had they lost? Where was Marik? Where was Serena? Where were Zar and Kolim? Master Satele? She resolved to find out. She made her way to the breach, where she, Mack and Leo had made their final stand – that turned out to not be so final. The Republic soldiers must have removed the bodies of their fallen comrades, as there was no sign of them. She bowed her head sadly, out of respect for them and the families who would feel their deaths even more keenly. She couldn't quite remember where Marik had gone, though, or where Serena and the soldiers with her had been pinned against...

She made her way along the wall, hoping that she would either find them injured but alive, or nothing at all. Then she froze.

A pile of Imperial bodies were clumped in one area up against the wall. On top of the pile were the spread eagled forms of three Republic soldiers, and Serena, staring into space with lifeless eyes, as if in shock... lying on top of all of them, her lightsaber hilt broken in half, with blaster holes riddled over her entire body. Kia's eyes began to tear up; her hands began to shake as she stared at the body of her dead friend.

She'd known her for barely a couple of days. But it should have been much longer... She was meant to have survived. She was going to go home. Stop getting involved in war. Now she never would...

And where was Marik? She hadn't seen him since the battle either – it was that fear that almost caused her to break down all together, but she steeled herself and decided to continue her search. Not that she needed to look anything further.

'Kia...' She turned to find Marik staring at her. Except it wasn't Marik – at least, not the Marik she had known. His eyes had a haunted look to them, his face half covered in blood and muck was beneath it all deathly pale... Not to mention the fact that he was still in his armoured robes; the armoured plating covered in charred holes from the blaster fire, and the robes covered in rips and burns. He looked from her to the limp form of Serena, his face laden with guilt.

'What happened?' She asked him weakly.

'I couldn't get through,' he told her, his voice hoarse. 'I tried to follow, but I was cut off by more soldiers... I ran, and they followed me. I wanted to get back to you and the others, but... I couldn't. Not without bringing a whole load more of them straight to you; I had no idea –'

'Marik, what happened out _there_? We never got the reinforcements – just a lot of screaming.' Her voice almost broke. 'Screaming... Marik, did you hear them? They were dying, weren't they? We couldn't go back, we couldn't go forward, people dying everywhere...' The horror of what had happened was only now beginning to sink in, and despite many weeks in the middle of the conflict, Kia only now fully understood the horrors of war.

'I thought I wanted them to hurt,' she confessed. 'I thought... After what they've done to our families... They deserved to suffer. Now I just want it all over. I don't want this to happen to anyone, ever again. This war needs to end.'

'If only it were actually that easy,' Marik muttered.

'Maybe it is. Maybe there are people in the Empire who want to talk peace –'

Her friend snorted. 'Look around you, Kia. The Imperials _love _this stuff. The pain, the suffering, the killing – they practically live off them, and if you honestly think that they'd consider talking about ending the war, you must have received some brain damage in that last fight or something, because that – _that – _is not rational.'

'You're the one always talking about compromises between light and dark, Marik,' she pointed out through clenched teeth. 'You of all people should be prepared to give it a try.'

'Not anymore.' Marik was staring at Serena's corpse. 'Maybe the best way of life is to stay in tune with both sides of the Force, but there's no way the Sith would ever agree to something like that. Their Empire has become about more than a principal on how to live our lives; it's about survival, and making sure the people we care about survive. We won't achieve that by compromising with the Sith, because they don't compromise – they just take advantage of anyone who does.'

'You're saying that if the Emperor himself offered a peace treaty right now, you wouldn't jump at the chance to end the war?'

'I'm _saying _that would never happen, and if it did, I wouldn't trust it for one moment.'

There was silence between them. Kia began to shiver; the snow had started to fall again. Once they left, Mekhis' fortress would eventually be buried, and though the horrors they had experienced there would take longer, they too would be buried with the passage of time. On the one hand, good riddance to it – at least, that's how Kia felt. On the other...

'Marik, we should bring their bodies in. The ones who came with us, I mean. They shouldn't just be left in the snow, forgotten. We owe them a proper burial, at least.'

He just nodded, and moved past her to pick up Serena's lifeless form, gently, tenderly, as though she were asleep and he was afraid of waking her. Still recovering from the battle, Kia wasn't able to carry a body by herself, but she did pick up the pieces of Serena's broken lightsaber. As she followed him, she saw a look on his face she hadn't seen since the day they had first spoken to each other – one of pain and regret; but there was something else there as well. There was guilt.

It suddenly became clear, why he had refused the idea of peace – if he was able to forgive the Sith, and let go of the fact that what happened to Serena and the others was their fault, he'd need to fully face the other person he felt held the blame: Himself.

When they arrived back at the medical tents, they found Leo awaiting them at its entrance, his arm in a sling and his face drawn and tired (Kia could only imagine how she must look). He saw the young woman being held in Marik's arms, and bowed his head.

'The others are still lying there,' Kia told him sadly. 'We're bringing them all back.'

'Who was their commanding officer? Is there someone we need to report their deaths to?' Marik asked him.

'Marik,' Leo's face was pained. 'They had no commanding officer. The entire group was made up of survivors from regiments that had been all but wiped out. When they attached themselves – when _we _attached ourselves – to you, we did so because we saw something in you that day. Nobody reassigned us, because we convinced command that we'd be better working with you. We believed you would lead us to victory.'

'Why? Why did you think I could lead? I got lucky in a fight against a Sith, that's all; that shouldn't count as a reason to follow me to Hell and back.'

'Marik, you're not a military strategist; you're a Jedi Padawan, you don't have training and experience most leaders have – that much is true. But you are a great warrior; you served as an inspiration to us on the battlefield. You, a Padawan, killed a fully fledged Sith Lord; you fought bravely in every conflict you've been in, you've held yourself and your friend together admirably through it all and have proven yourself as a mighty warrior on a number of occasions today alone.'

'So what?' Marik asked bitterly, 'I don't get why one good fighter is worthy of following the way you all followed me.'

Leo limped across to the white-haired young man, and placed a hand on his shoulder. 'I can't speak for her,' he said sadly, regarding Serena, 'but you need to understand, lad, as soldiers of the Republic, we get few reports of victory from this war. I wish it was different, but it's not. The few reports we do get that contain any good news will almost always have someone's name associated with them. A war-hero, of sorts. These people are the ones we look out for in battle, the brave and ferocious one who we know will lead the charge that breaks the enemy, or dies trying and achieves something spectacular when they do. We saw that in you, Marik. We saw it in both of you, truth be told, but since you got the Sith Lord, Marik, you were the one everyone flocked to – no offense, Kia.'

'None taken,' she tried to smile reassuringly, but she really didn't feel she could smile today.

Leo continued. 'And that's why we followed you, Marik. We knew that you could achieve great things in this war, and we wanted to help you do that in whatever way we could – and if those things brought us closer to bringing an end to this war, we were all prepared to die trying to help you.'

Marik shook his head. 'You were wrong. I'm not worth following any more than they were. They were braver than me through all of this; stronger than I could ever hope to be. They're the ones who deserve to be remembered as war-heroes.'

'And they shall be.' Master Satele was stood behind Kia and Marik. 'We won this battle, and by extension the whole planet, thanks to their sacrifice – and yours. With your distracting the whole base, I was able to get through to Mekhis and stop her and her super weapons from destroying our forces. When the time comes to write the history of this battle, you and your band of misfits will have your names at its forefront, as the ones who delivered this planet into the Republic's hands. Your friends will be remembered, Marik; I promise you that much.'


End file.
